18% Tourist Tax In Greece...

For those of us currently heading down to Greece the recent announcement by the govt there to increase restaurant tax and accommodation tax from 13% and 6.5% respectively to 18% comes as a bit of a blow!

What is not clear is whether the accommodation tax applies to campsites ( so far I have only seen mention of hotels) and exactly when the tax increase is to be applied.

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Tax is 20% here and you all still come and as Snowbird says pound/ euro exchange still makes it cheap. Love Portugal and Greece and France too of course but I live there so not a holiday destination for us lol

Tax is 20% here and you all still come and as Snowbird says pound/ euro exchange still makes it cheap. Love Portugal and Greece and France too of course but I live there so not a holiday destination for us lol

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Is the tourist tax fixed at 20% ? I used to be sent a form ( up til 2012) and I had to charge 44 centimes per adult per night. Pensioners were exempt, as were any guests with a disability. That was a Chambre D'Hote. I think campsites charged a similar rate, Gites were slightly different.

I think the biggest worry for anyone going to Greece at the moment would be the country running out of money - which would mean no cash from ATMs.

Best to keep plenty of cash handy in a biscuit tin - like everyone else in Greece!

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Career Advancement: Excellent for science, research and engineering
Job Requirements: Incredible fitness and academic credentials
Danger Factor: Surprisingly not too bad – only 22 have died in the history of spaceflight
Pros: You get to fly a space shuttle
Cons: Famously hard to catch a career break and the work is mentally and physically grueling.

So far there has been no increase on tourist tax. Wine is £2.10 for one and a half litres and is very palatable. Prices have not gone up but have stayed the same. Too much scaremongering on here, get the facts first.

"Visitors to Greece will have to pay an 18 per cent tax on hotel and restaurant bills. Source: News Limited

Tourists to Greek islands will be forced to pay an 18 per cent tax on hotel and restaurant bills so that Athens can raise money to appease Brussels.

The plans were denounced as “catastrophic” by heads of tourism and came as officials at the European Central Bank drew up plans for a parallel currency for Greece as the country hurtles towards bankruptcy. Yves Mersch, a member of the bank’s executive board, admitted that there were preparations for a Greek default.

“There are intermediate solutions circulating, such as the issuance of a parallel currency or IOUs,” he told the Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia. “All these measures are among the exceptional tools that any government can consider if it has no other options. But all of them have a high cost.”

The Greek government is refusing to surrender austerity “red lines” to the eurozone ahead of negotiations on Monday, raising the prospect of the ECB pulling the plug on the country’s banks.

Greece is defying pressure from the eurozone and the International Monetary Fund to cut pensions and deregulate legislation that protects workers, in talks to unblock €7.2 billion in loans to the Greek government.

Under the new plan, VAT would be set at 18 per cent and replace the multitude of rates now in force. The tax on restaurant bills in the islands would rise from 13 per cent to 18 per cent, while that on accommodation would nearly triple from 6.5 per cent. The reform is considered crucial to unblock billions of euros in aid and ease a four-month deadlock in bailout talks with Brussels and the IMF. European negotiators had demanded that Athens come forward with radical measures to win the funds to pay Greek public sector staff.

“It’s catastrophic,” said Andreas Andreadis, head of the Confederation of Greece Tourism. “What are millions of Britons and Germans going to do after having made bookings and paid for package deals this summer? It’ll probably scare them off.”

Like Spain, Portugal and Italy, Greece relies heavily on tourism, which accounts for about 20 per cent of its gross domestic product and one in five jobs. With 25 per cent of the country’s workforce unemployed and a seven-year recession biting deep, the stakes are high for the tourist season.

After a dip during the financial crisis, tourism rebounded last year, bringing in 24 million tourists and €13.5 billion, elevating Greece and its islands to Europe’s most popular holiday destination. At least a million more visitors were expected this year, but fears of financial turmoil led many to cancel.

“You don’t kill the only cow that’s generating milk for you,” Mr Andreadis said. “Forcing foreigners to pay a premium on package holidays will just drive them to other destinations.”

Since the start of the crisis, VAT rates have seesawed. In 2009, the tax on food and accommodation was 9 per cent. In 2011 it rose to 13 per cent for food but fell to 6.5 per cent for accommodation. In 2012 food tax shot up to 23 per cent, only to be cut back to 13 per cent in 2013.

With Greece locked out of international markets and unable to issue short-term debt, a desperate lack of liquidity has exacerbated the country’s financial woes. Months of talks over a new bailout program have tested creditors’ patience.